Thursday, October 17, 2013

Erin's big fat political post

Frankly, I'm having a difficult time controlling myself this morning, so I'm going to do this bullet style.

Nonsensical image unrelated to today's content

-With an overwhelming majority, our darling Congress finally decided to reopen the government yesterday and avoid turning ol' Uncle Sam into a deadbeat Dad. The House voted 285 to 144--that's about a two to one ratio; and the Senate voted 81 to 18--a little better than four to one. So why did it take so long to have such a noncontroversial vote? Just ask Denny Hastert.

-You know who I'd like to start with? Tea Party candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives Greg Collett. Naturally, the Gregster adamantly opposes big GOV programs, such as Medicaid--even though his ten kids are all Medicaid participants. Yes, really.

-Let's drop into Kentucky, shall we? One Bluegrass State Representative (Garland Barr) and one Senator (Rand Paul) voted to keep the GOV shut down and welsh on our bills. Mitch McConnell and KY Rep. Brett Guthrie (yes, they are all righties) magnanimously voted* in favor of yesterday's bill, perhaps in some part because it included a $2.8 billion barrel of pork for the blood red state, which is, incidentally, signing up people for Obamacare faster than any other state in the Union.

See previous caption

-Speaking of the Mitchster, one of my favorite moments from yesterday was a bit subtle. You had to be paying attention (feel free to lambaste me for being a political junkie in the comment section). As the GOP Senate leader was essentially conceding utter defeat before God and Country, Ted Cruz was braying into a microphone at exactly the same time (hint, hint), refusing to admit any defeat and saying, no, he wouldn't delay the impending vote. Awful big of you, Teddy. I'll buy you a Molson next time I see you, or a shot of Canadian Club if you prefer.

-Another honorable mention on style during the shutdown debacle goes to Fox News for referring to it as a "slimdown" throughout.

-I feel sort of bad for poor ol' Agent Orange (aka John Boehner).

Oh ... never mind

-Lastly, a nod to the Old Dominion State, the eight electoral votes of which went to the Republican presidential candidate in eight of the last 10 elections and to Obama in the other two. Virginia is also about to select a new governor and you can bet the GOP faithful will be watching that race with eagle eyes.

Enough. It's a beautiful day here in my corner of the Buckeye State. The turning leaves are shimmering against a blue blue blue sky. It might be a good day to drop into the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. I hear they're open for business.

* Update, Oct. 20. The actual shutdown vote tally for KY was two Reps voting NAY (keep 'er shut down!) and four YEAS (open 'er back up)--source. Sorry not to get it right the first time, folks; I was suffering from a political overdose

Things are back to normal. They voted to borrow another Trillion to help pay for the interest on the money we've already borrowed. And, did I read that the Chinese just downgraded our debt? This bullshit deal doesn't do one damn thing to address our debt mess. 17 Trillion and growing. Way to go! Now let's all get in our virtual lines to sign up for that new government health care.

Actually Sir that's exactly what the legislation does. You may not have noticed but Wall Street banks were unloading gov't bonds faster than crap through a goose. That process has now stopped. Now unless you've abandoned your love of Capitalism this is no trivial matter. The only thing that's business as usual is your and other conservatives refusal to deal with reality. One reality tidbit that might keep you from looking like a total idiot moving forward is the fact that there is no "New Government Healthcare." All the plans offered through the exchanges are from private providers. The only GOVERNMENT Healthcare is the same as it was last week and last year-Medicare and Medicaid. Of course if you meet eligibility requirements you can sign up. Finally, lest there be some misunderstanding, I am not speaking in support of the ACA. I am now and will continue to be a single payor advocate. When the newborns are assigned a Social Security number they should also get a Medicare card. And until some conservative whining about the national debt comes up with a serious plan to reduce Defense Spending I wish they'd just STFU.

The 10 year treasury started the year with a yield of 1.86% and will probably end this week at about 2.59%. Just adding a little perspective to earlier, hard to quantify, rhetoric about crap through a goose.

I'm not angry Erin. It's pretty disgusting though, wouldn't you agree, how the press seems unable to report on these issues without laying a glove on the President?

Those fine Journalists, Advocates For The Common Interest And Stewards Of The Public Airwaves over at Fox further cemented their professional bona fides during the GOP shut train via their use of their 'Obama Shutdown' header/logo, every bit as lurid and garish as that used in any zombie movie but without the monomaniacal attention to fact and nuance that one finds in that genre.

My mistake Bill. I assumed a regular reader of an author's blog could handle metaphor. To be a little more concrete neither the yield or the term were discussed only the fact that the risk of default made possession of U.S. Bonds by financial institutions irresponsible and was a regular topic of discussion in print and broadcast media in the days leading up to the debt limit extension.

Say, RJ, were you aware that the yield on T-bills varies as the market assesses their relative risk? So, for instance, if a segment of the political class were behaving in such a way as to lead observers to believe that they were quite willing to allow the United States to default on our sovereign debt, causing a world-wide financial crisis, it would become more expensive to issue further sovereign debt?

Now, do you suppose it would be fair for someone who supported the aims of the sociopaths of the political class who were carrying out such a dangerous stunt to cite the increase in the cost of issuing necessary debt as being the fault of anybody but the sociopaths themselves?

My Army wife daughter wrote me bemoaning the fact the PX was closed and she was having to purchase groceries at civilian prices. Wondering how things were in Tennessee. I told her it was business as usual. The people that elected representatives that wanted to shut the government down were pissed the representatives had shut the government down.

Bill, from the time Obama stepped into the oval office, the MO of the GOP was to make life miserable for America. They are against everything and are making sure Uncertainty Rules in order to stifle the recovery. I've held that opinion for months, but the Daily Beast summed it up pretty nicely today.

I'm glad Obama and the Dems finally stood up to these bullies. America has had enough. You want the news story? Here's your headline:

I think it's hilarious that the press and blogs like The Daily Beast, have picked up on the mantra that the GOP has stopped that booming economic recovery. I fully expect the GOP to be blamed for the miserable employment picture and the failure of Obama care. Thank you Press!

Source for ANYONE that EVER labeled the economic recovery "BOOMING". The "Shutdown", "Partial Shutdown," "Slimdown" has exacted a cost. Show me data that it has not. It would be funny that you were so full of shit if it wasn't so tragic.

“It’s difficult,” the source said before the shutdown and debt ceiling standoff was resolved. “These are people who make a living analyzing risk. They want to know when the government will open and when the debt limit will be responsibly raised. Though most senators are working to that end, it’s impossible to give a clear answer, so until the path is clear, it’s difficult.”

If there are any readers who are interested in accuracy, 'The Daily Beast' IS the press-it's the online heir to Newsweek magazine.

As to the cyclical moaning and wailing from one particular (the right) end of the political spectrum that 'the press' or 'the media' lean one way in particular, usually AWAY from their position on any particular question, sadly it is necessary to point out from time to time the fact that 'the press' and/or 'the media' are virtually ALL owned by giant multinational corporations: GE, News Corp., Viacom, Time-Warner, CBS, ATT, Tribune Co., Hearst, Gannet, Apple, Microsoft, Comcast, Bertelsmann.

Giant multinational corporations lean to the right in their politics.

Unfortunately I know from past experience that the next time the right displays behavior that is by consensus crappy behavior and is so cited for same in the 'press' or the 'media' the same awful, blood-chilling proto-human caterwauling will issue from the right.

Also in the interest of fairness and accuracy, it has been my observation that the media and/or press have NOT singled out 'the GOP' at large for responsibility in this desultory charade just ended.

They have been quite accurate, however, in pointing out that this contemptible stunt was the responsibility of the 60-80 GOP members of the House of Representatives self-identifying as the 'Tea Party Caucus', aided and abetted by the Eddie Haskell of the United States Senate, Ted Cruz. They have furthermore been accurate in pointing out the fact that PWOKB* in the Republican party, people like John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mike Lee, Jim DeMint and Ron Johnson, have been woefully derelict in correcting the delinquents in their own party, or especially in the case of DeMint and Lee, actively encouraging their vandalism.

Erin; the core question is what's biting the bum of the republicans, they don't really care about the public debt. Mostly because no one does or can for that matter. The numbers are so big they are an abstract on an abstract. Sooo. What on the ground is getting at them. What on the ground is getting at then over the Health Care. What or who are they seeing every day that they can point at to distinguish themselves. The issue with education is simple enough. If you have money the universities will push up the fees to what the market will take. But largely speaking this was seen around 1900 as being lunatic and ultimately destructive. So first you opened high schools and then State universities.If Obama was truly serious about health care he would have opened dedicated medical university's and flooded the market with medics.

@Harry Finch;I just repaired a forklift wheel hub that looks exactly like that there avatar. I got to use my new crazy "Nes-1" Universak Adjustable Thread Restorer tool from Israel that has two 60 degree cutters that float to any pitch and expand like a tubing cutter to a wide range of diameters. Mos' badass tool I've bought in months. What was the question?

@ Harry Finch- another good piece at Salon. Sean (Howdy Doody)Hannity ran a show with three couples as a panel to hear their horror stories about the ACA. Eric Stern at Salon thought the stories seemed almost to good to be true so he made at least and spoke with the families from Hannity's show.

You folks might find this hard-to-believe, but it looks like Hannity was being dishonest with viewers. I know, I know, it's unfathomable that a man of his stature or a network the likes of Fox would ever be flat-out dishonest. But they are.